


4. “Do you…well…I mean…I could give you a massage?”

by miraculeuxnoir (redhoodedwolf)



Series: Drabble Challenge [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: #AdrienKnows2K16, F/M, Or does he, but chat makes it better, it's open ended so sure??, marichat fluff and lots of eye contact, maybe???, reveal fic???, some aches and pans from an akuma fight, there's a massage if that part isn't clear, though he doesn't know he is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 08:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6846790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redhoodedwolf/pseuds/miraculeuxnoir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you-–” Chat Noir hesitates, cutting himself off. “Well-– I mean… I could give you a massage?” He says it like a question, like he’s not sure he’s allowed to make the suggestion.<br/>Marinette looks up at him in surprise. “Um,” she squeaks. “If you want?” she asks back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	4. “Do you…well…I mean…I could give you a massage?”

**Author's Note:**

> part of my drabble challenge so originally posted on tumblr

“Princess, let me tell you, it is _not_ easy out there.”

Marinette bites back the _I know_ that wants to come out and instead says sarcastically, “I can’t even imagine.”

Chat Noir smirks. “Not that it isn’t all worth it, I mean.”

“Right, of course,” Marinette replies a second too late, eyes focused on her homework. Her pencil is gripped tightly in her hand. She tilts her head to either side, trying to work out the kink in her neck that had formed during the latest akuma fight.

She brings a hand up to rub at the abused muscle, and presses her thumb into a particularly sore spot. She bites back the moan of pain.

Marinette and Chat sit in silence for a few minutes, which isn’t anything odd for the two of them. Half of the time they spend together is spent in silence, just enjoying the company. But something seems off this time. Too tense.

“Doing alright over there?” Chat asks a few minutes later after Marinette hisses softly from between her teeth. She’d rolled her shoulders back to relieve some of the tension, but it only made things worse, flaming up her back pain. 

“Fine,” Marinette sighs, waving a hand about. “Just some neck pain, it’s nothing.”

“Oof, I hate that stuff,” Chat replies in commiseration. “Minor pains like that are, heh, a pain in the neck.”

Marinette glares at him.

Chat grins at her unashamedly and continues. “I get lots of muscle aches from akuma attacks. I was spared today, thankfully,” he boasts a little, “But I think Ladybug got hit worse. She fell onto her back at one point, that had to have tensed up some things.”

Well, now Marinette knows where the source of her pain is. She shifts in her seat and says nothing, staring blankly down at her half-finished assignment.

“Relaxing does a world of good for that stuff, but if you can get in to see a masseuse then that really does the trick. Nath-– er, a woman I know, a family friend, has some connections, so I get massages whenever I need them.”

Though the words may sound braggy to some, the way Chat speaks about this woman he knows is almost with contempt, like he’d rather not know her or have these extra perks.

“Must be nice,” Marinette responds softly a moment later, flashing Chat a tight smile. 

Chat Noir stares at her, and Marinette does her best not to shrink back under his unwavering gaze. It’s easy to look him head-on when she is Ladybug, but as normal Marinette, some of that confidence wavers. 

“ **Do you-–** ” Chat Noir hesitates, cutting himself off. “ **Well-– I mean… I could give you a massage?** ” He says it like a question, like he’s not sure he’s allowed to make the suggestion.

Marinette looks up at him in surprise. “Um,” she squeaks. “If you want?” she asks back.

Chat gives her a shy smile, head ducking slightly. “I certainly can. You won’t be able to get anything done if your body is in no shape to function.”

Looking at her incomplete homework, Marinette can’t help but agree. “True,” she concedes. “Okay, sure, Should I, um–-”

Chat sits up from where he was reclining on the chaise and pats the space in front of him. “Just sit here.”

Marinette is slow to react, but eventually makes her way over to Chat and sits as he directed, legs crossing over one another, facing away from him. She feels more than sees Chat scoot up closer to her, and on either side of her knees Chat’s leather-clad thighs brush against them. She bites back a squeak of surprise.

Chat’s hands rest gently on her shoulders. “This okay?” he asks, and his breath is warm on the back of her neck.

Marinette nods jerkily. She clears her throat. “Just be careful with those claws, chaton.”

“Of course, my princess,” Chat replies before digging his thumbs into the muscle at the base of her neck, and Marinette melts into his hands.

Her eyelids flutter closed, and she floats as Chat massages the stiff muscles of her neck and shoulders. He is careful about his nails, keeping his touches gentle and not harsh. He presses his palms into her shoulder blades and drags them down her spine, and Marinette bites her bottom lip, feels a shudder coarse through her body. 

Chat’s hands still for just a second, but then they continue without hesitation. 

“Doing alright?” Chat asks a few minutes later. “Feel okay?”

Marinette nods slowly. “Mhmm,” she hums. “Very good. Thanks, Chat.”

Chat’s hands begin to wander to the muscles of her back, and when he presses down on the center of her spine, Marinette hisses and leans away from his hands. Chat immediately tears his hands away, babbling apologies.

“It’s fine,” Marinette rushed to console him. “I just have a bruise there from earlier today.”

Chat doesn’t lift up her shirt to look at it, but Marinette can sense he’s curious. “How bad is it?”

“I’d just avoid most of my back,” she responds, wincing at the memory of seeing the large purpling bruise in the mirror not long ago. 

Chat’s breath hitches. He stutters over his words. “How did it happen?”

Marinette forces out a laugh and comes up with a believable lie. “Oh, you know, silly clumsy me. Backed into the kitchen counter when I slipped on some water on the floor. No big deal.”

Chat’s hands once again return to her shoulders, and she relaxes immediately. He brushes her pigtails over her shoulders and speaks softly, “You should be more careful. Wouldn’t want my lady to be getting hurt.”

“I’ll be more careful in the future,” Marinette promises.

She doesn’t think at all about Chat’s choice of words until she is lying in bed later that night, a icepack on her back to reduce swelling. 

“Tikki,” she whispers. “Did Chat call me his lady?”

**Author's Note:**

> My ML blog is miraculeuxnoir, if you're into sterek hmu at redhoodedwolf, and for all else I'm localwolfgoesawoo. I'm everywhere.


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